Littoral Surveillance Radar System

The Littoral Surveillance Radar System (LSRS) is a active electronically scanned array (AESA) surveillance radar, currently used on several P-3 Orion aircraft, originally maritime patrol aircraft, which, with the end of the Cold War blue-water focus, have been increasingly used in littoral and overland operations. There is considerable speculation that this system, or a variant, will go onto next-generation surveillance aircraft. While it is termed a "surveillance" radar, it is intended to provide sufficiently accurate information for the targeting of intelligent weapons, such as the AGM-84 SLAM-ER. In 2010, a large-scale Joint Surface Warfare (JSuW) demonstration, providing targeting updates to air- and ship-launched weapons ranging from Joint Direct Action Munitions to AGM-84 Harpoons.

The radar probably uses the "tile" AESA technology of the F-18 Super Hornet and Joint Strike Fighter radars, which also provide high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Moving Target Indicator modes.

On October 4, 2006, the Boeing-Raytheon Advanced Sensor Technology Team received a Defense Acquisition Executive Certificate of Achievement. The Boeing-Raytheon team -- the program's umbrella name is Advanced Sensor Technology (AST) -- accomplished 2800 hours of testing, apparently based at Love Field in Dallas, before achieving early operational capability in 2005, according to this official publication (pdf, last page).

Multiservice implications

In FY 2008, the U.S. Department of Defense cancelled the budget for the planned E-10A C3I-ISR aircraft, which was to replace and consolidate a number of existing programs on weary airframes, such as the E-8 Joint STARS. Not cancelled, however, was the P-8 Poseidon, initially designated as the replacement for the P-3 Orion. The P-8, which recently entered operation, was originally planned by its manufacturer, Boeing, to use a modified commercial Boeing 737-700 airframe. In 2003, however, they changed the platform to the longer 737-800, giving only the reason that it would support a "classified capability". At the same time, they placed the P-8 weapons bay in the rear fuselage. The LSRS antenna array is believed to be long and shallow, fitting the lengthened forward fuselage of a 737-800.

A P-8 with LSRS may be a viable alternative, on a modern aircraft, to the E-10 and its planned radar. The Air Force had also been evaluating the E-8 Joint STARS, originally for land surveillance, for traditionally Navy maritime and littoral missions.